#what is with that description though...

[ruanbaijie]

W is for WU SHAN WU XING @animangacreators challenge 3 ✧ alphabet challenge

[phanerozoicfossilgardener]

As a writer I need everyone to know that whenever I write "exchanged glances" my intent is this

[ID: A screencap from The Penguins of Madagascar television series. It shows Skipper and Private in a cinderblock room with the head of a stuffed fish visible in the decor. Skipper is carrying a corked test tube of pink glowing liquid. Skipper glances at Private with a single raised eye brow. Private meets his eyes with a blanker expression of possibly raised eyebrows. End ID]

[egophiliac]

So.... what are your thoughts on Ace's UM, if you haven't been asked this already?

sneaky magic for the sneakiest boy

no but really, I think it fits him really well! I had thought his UM would probably involve something kinda sleight-of-handy or pickpockety! and I looooved that it made such a nice loop-around back to episode 1. ❤️ I was. kind of half-expecting him to just run out and punch Riddle in the nose again. but instead this time 'twas he who offed the queen's head! it was great! and he did it while stone-cold terrified out of his mind! because Ace is the only remotely normal or well-adjusted person at NRC and therefore the only one who is like "we're going to literally die, this is super effed up". but he did it anyway!!!! I AM SO PROUD

[gigizetz]

Hi Gigi :3

Are we gonna get a hold them down animation? Or no because the uncomforty topic?

that's up for the future to decide

I'll be busy with commissions up until february I think, so util then I won't be working on any Epic animatics

and then once I have time again I'll finish God Games

and after that I kinda want to do Legendary-

[mirrored-muse]

ᴄʀᴀᴡʟɪɴɢ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ | ᴠ.ᴘ

ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 674

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: ᴘᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴜᴘ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴠɪɢɪʟᴀɴᴛᴇ ɢɪʀʟꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴀ ʀᴏᴜɢʜ ɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ᴘᴀᴛʀᴏʟ.

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ꜱᴘɪᴅᴇʀᴍᴀɴ! ᴠᴀɴ ᴘᴀʟᴍᴇʀ x ꜰᴇᴍ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ᴀ/ɴ: ɴᴏᴛ ᴍʏ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ɪᴍᴏ, ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ᴡᴏʀᴋɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴠᴀɴ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ. ʜᴏᴘᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀɴᴏɴ ᴡʜᴏ ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛᴇᴅ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ᴇʟꜱᴇ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏꜱ!

The first thud barely wakes you. The second, louder, more of a crash, has you shooting up in bed just in time to see a mess of red and blue fabric stumble through your bedroom window.

“Oh, fuck me,” Van groans, landing in a heap on your floor.

You blink, still half-asleep, heart pounding. “Van?”

You blink, rubbing sleep from your eyes, trying to piece together the fact that your girlfriend, who on paper, is just your sarcastic, slightly reckless soccer-playing girlfriend, is currently stumbling through your window dressed as her version of Spider-Man.

Again.

Your eyes flick down to the tear in her suit, the deep gash along her ribs.

“Jesus, Van,” you mutter, throwing off your blanket and rushing over. “what happened?”

Van waves a hand. “You should see the other guy.”

You ignore her reply and crouch down beside her, gently pressing a hand to her arm. Her muscles are tense under your touch, but she doesn’t pull away. You sigh, already standing up to grab the first-aid kit you keep specifically for nights like this.

“Take your suit off,” you say, opening the kit.

Van, predictably, takes that as an opportunity. “Damn, babe, at least buy me dinner first.”

You shoot her an unimpressed look.

She groans, dragging herself onto your bed and flopping down dramatically. “Fine. But only because you asked so nicely.”

She unzips the top half of her suit and peels it off her shoulders, revealing the wound along her ribs. It’s not deep, but it’s ugly. Already bruising around the edges. You wince, pulling out a disinfectant wipe.

The second it touches her skin, she hisses, jerking away.

“Ow- okay, Jesus, can we pretend I have, like, some level of dignity here?”

“You literally throw yourself off buildings for fun,” you remind her, dabbing more carefully now.

“Yeah, but that’s different.”

You roll your eyes but soften your touch, pressing the gauze to her ribs. She exhales sharply, shoulders twitching.

After a few seconds of silence, she glances at you. “You’re mad, aren’t you?”

You don’t answer right away, focusing on wrapping the bandage around her torso. “Not mad.”

Van raises an eyebrow. “Oh, you’re totally mad.”

You sigh, tying off the bandage. “I just hate seeing you like this. You come in here in the middle of the night all bruised and bleeding, acting like it’s nothing.

Van opens her mouth, probably to throw out some sarcastic remark, but then she stops. Her expression shifts, just slightly.

She exhales, dragging a hand through her hair. “I know,” she mutters. “I just… I don’t know how to not do this.”

You swallow, looking at her, really looking at her. She’s still Van, still smiling through the pain, still acting like it’s all just part of the job. But there’s something else underneath it. Something tired.

Carefully, you reach out, brushing your fingers against hers. She glances down at your hands, then back up at you.

“I just worry about you,” you admit.

Van huffs a small laugh. “Yeah, well, lucky for you, I’ve got a great track record of surviving.” You don’t laugh and she notices.

She sighs again, tilting her head back against the pillow. “Okay, okay. How about this, I promise to be more careful.”

You narrow your eyes. “That doesn’t mean much coming from you.”

She grins. “Fine. I promise to be more careful, and-” she pauses, gently squeezing your hand, “-I promise I’ll always come back to you.”

You want to be annoyed at how easily she says things like that, how effortlessly she makes your heart feel like it’s doing Olympic-level gymnastics, but you can’t.

Not when she’s looking at you like that. Not when you know she means it.

You exhale, squeezing her hand back. “You better.”

Before you can say anything else, she tugs you forward, pulling you down beside her.

“Van-”

“Five minutes,” she mutters into your shoulder, already getting comfortable.

You sigh, shaking your head, but you don’t push her away. Instead, letting her rest against you.

[galactaknightyaoi]

☀️ IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!! 🌙

This is my gift to myself :) I drew my favorite guys ever.

For a while I've been itching to draw the wedding outfits from this post again. I made them up on the fly as I was drawing, but I actually really like how they ended up turning out. They're super cute!! (though, yet again, you can't see almost any part of Dedede's outfit... 💔)

But then I couldn't get it out of my head to make a companion piece for it, with their mirror versions. And so. I did. What they have going on is a little bit messy, though...

Marriage or divorce!! Take your pick.

[r0semultiverse]

Small indie artists in need of support for moving out by September!

💜 These lovely folks [@QuinsCurse (they/them) & @sswitchblade03 (xe/xem and he/him)] are part of a small queer-owned Youtube community I'm in. 💖

💖 If you could lend a helping hand by reblogging & queueing this post up until the start of September, I'd greatly appreciate it & I'm sure these fine folks would too! 💜

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

"Hi everyone! Requests are officially closed as I am opening emergency commissions! Please consider supporting me as we are getting kicked out and have managed to find a place that’s affordable but need to save up 5k by the end of the month! Anything helps! I also have a dontations page if you are willing to help do that! All the money received from commissions will be going to the deposit! https://ko-fi.com/quinscurse/commissions https://ko-fi.com/quinscurse/goal?g=32"

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

"https://ko-fi.com/sswitchblade03/commissions https://ko-fi.com/sswitchblade03/goal?g=0 EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS!! My roommate ‪@QuinsCurse‬and I are needing about $5000CAD for a down payment on a new place as we need to be out of our current place by September! Every bit counts! My goal is to be set to $3000CAD. I will draw anything (coloured and rendered) for $5 CAD each! If you are willing to give more it will be appreciated. Examples of my work below!"

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

[polarisbear]

this is inarguably one of the most self-indulgent things i’ve ever designed (bonus color way and more detailed descriptions under cut.)

[image 1 id: a sketch of sora and riku in fancy princely and knightly outfits respectively. riku is in a mostly white outfit with brown, pink, and gold. sora is in a mostly dark brown outfit with red and silver. they have matching earrings.]

[image 1 id extended: a sketch of sora and riku from kingdom hearts in fancy outfits. sora’s outfit is composed of a marching-band style jacket with a mandarin collar and coattails, gauntlets, baggy pants, and chunky boots. he has one epaulet with rope and a side cape attached to it. most of his outfit is dark brown, but there are panels of red with silver detailing. the middle panel of his jacket and cape have a matching red stripe pattern.

riku’s outfit is composed of a cropped frock coat, corset, high-waisted pants, thigh high boots, and gloves. most of his outfit is cream, but there are panels of brown and pink with gold detailing. his coat has epaulets. attached to the corset is a side train. everything is decorated in ruffles, gold embellishments or swirling filigree. on the corset and side train there is a pink check pattern.

both outfits have five lines of metallic detailing on their clothes to represent a music staff. hearts are a consistent motif as well. they have matching earrings and riku has a heart brooch to mirror sora’s crown necklace]

[image 2 id: a sketch of sora and riku from kingdom hearts in fancy outfits. sora’s outfit is composed of a marching-band style jacket with a mandarin collar and coattails, gauntlets, baggy pants, and chunky boots. he has one epaulet with rope and a side cape attached to it. most of his outfit is white, but there are panels of red with gold detailing. the cape has a gradient going down from lime green to orange. sora has an earring based on his half of the combined keyblade.

riku’s outfit is composed of a cropped frock coat, corset, high-waisted pants, thigh high boots, and gloves. most of his outfit is dark blue, but there are panels of darker blue with silver detailing. his coat has epaulets. attached to the corset is a side train. the train has a gradient going down from magenta to cyan. riku has an earring based on his half of the combined keyblade.

both outfits have five lines of metallic detailing on their clothes to represent a music staff. hearts are a consistent motif as well. riku has a heart brooch to mirror sora’s crown necklace]

[faunandfloraas]

The Nobleman or 양반 (yangban): The smiling face represents the bluff and composure that an aristocrat is often known to have. The chin is a separate piece from the top of the mask, and the actors can lean forward and back to make the mask smile or frown as needed.

This monk who abandons his doctrines, or 취발이 (chwibari): Chwibari was originally a monk, but he had no intention of joining the monastic order, so he came down to the world and wanders. Represented with a forehead full of wrinkles and spots.

The widow or, 부네 (Punae/bune): represented to be a widow, or a kisaeng ( a woman who sang, danced, or played an instrument to provide entertainment for company at a drinking party), or a mistress of the Yangban. She has a very small mouth, round cheeks and forehead- giving a general look of happiness good-humor.

[aristoteliancomplacency]

I present to you the work of another painter of fish plates. Y’know how you use ‘scare quotes’ for various purposes, including indicating that you’re not actually sure about The Thing?

Well, this guy was so bad at whatever he was painting that we call him…

The ‘tadpole’ painter:

Here’s another example:

This one was sold as part of the Graham Geddes collection at Bonham’s auction house in 2008 for £2,040.

They describe it as ‘three fish including a wrasse with dorsal spines, an angler-fish, the rounded body with multiple black dots, two large round eyes with pupils, an open mouth with teeth bared, and a ray with pointed face, the body with multiple black dots’.

Which like… bold fucking move missing out the fact that they have legs. Though I can’t say I envy whoever had to write the description.

[applestorms]

the misa post

adding a lil additional note here because this thing SPIRALED the fuck out, even more so than some of my usual essays. therefore, i will be going back to my roots by breaking this post down into two sections: misa and sexuality, and misa and romance/death. skip to whatever section, if you wanna. or don't. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

misa and sexuality:

honestly, the way that misa engages with her sexuality in DN is such a fascinating topic in and of itself. i really have quite mixed feelings about it because while yes, to some degree the art and story does sexualize and objectify her, there is also an element of agency to it that i don’t often see people talk about…?

like, idk. misa is a model, she does act, her job primarily involves working in front of cameras. she’s selling her Image and her body and she’s well aware of how to market the appeal— we literally see her doing this during yotsuba, when they’re trying to free matsuda after he runs around like an idiot and gets caught.

i actually think it's quite interesting that she specifies being against nudity here but alright with swimsuits and lingerie— full nudity implies sex work, something that in the mainstream might be considered "dirty" or somehow less/not worthy of respect (even if that's utter bullshit). yet lingerie is fine, despite having similar implications of sexuality, blocking off the most private areas and thereby allowing profit off of the same concept but without the associated disapproval. you could read this panel as misa simply knowing her boundaries and what she is and isn't comfortable with— but i think it's interesting that you could just as easily read this as misa knowing what boundaries she is and isn't allowed to have, if she is to market herself as effectively as possible and maintain her public image.

off the top of my head i can only think of two major examples where it’s clear that misa is super overtly being sexualized by forces outside of her control/with no particularly meaningful justification, at least in terms of visuals. this panel, which managed to sneak in a panty shot:

which, weirdly enough was actually kind of foreshadowed by sayu earlier in the chapter:

(sidenote1: does light really not have any other fucking chairs? further evidence that he doesn't really connect with people pre-DN, if he's not really prepared to have any guests in his room. anti-social weirdo.)

and, of course, the classic torture cover from chapter 33:

though i must admit, it is difficult to find any image of a character getting tied up like this that doesn't have some implication of sexuality. bondage torture is just a classic like that. though the camera certainly doesn't help, L— and neither does the fact that light and soichiro are not put into an equally objectifying, sense-deprived contraption like this, and instead just get normal ass bare cells.

in many other cases however, misa herself is the one flaunting her sexuality, typically as a means of trying to appeal herself to light but sometimes i think you can definitely read it as misa just. dressing the way that she wants to dress because it's cute? like, okay, in terms of trying to appeal herself to light we've got this classic panel from after the timeskip ft. a particularly homosexual light moment:

but there's also plenty of misa moments that just look like this:

girlie is chilling. literally kicking her feet, stalking her crush in bed with her supernatural death god girlfriend.

to be clear, this is not to say that death note isn't sexist or has particularly fantastic writing for its female characters. rather, what i'd like to point out here is that there are different levels under which we can view and analyze misa's sexuality:

the base level, of a girl who is comfortable with her body and fine with wearing revealing clothing

the level above that, involving the fact that misa's job revolves around selling her image, of which her sexuality is a key factor

and then the uppermost meta level, surrounding the fact that misa is a character in a story not only written and illustrated by men, but sold in shounen jump, meaning that she is thus filtered pretty significantly through a quite literal male gaze

it both can be and is true that misa is simultaneously objectified for her body on multiple levels and a pretty fucking horny person herself (or at the very least, willing to push that for the sake of her own goals)

remember, misa is the one pushing for their "alone time" here.

just. idk. i suppose my main point here is simply that i think this is a topic that deserves to be looked at with more nuance. there is credence to both the claims that misa is sexualized in DN and that misa herself has agency in how she chooses to dress and present herself, and i don't think you can cleanly separate those two aspects without losing something significant.

honestly, when it comes down to it, my personal take is that the real problem of sexism in DN is less about the particular ways in which individual female characters are presented/traits they are given, and more about the broad strokes of how women in general are treated... if my post on that particular subject ever ends up seeing the light of day, i guess i'll link that right about here. anyways,

misa and romance/death:

if there is one thing that her parents dying, almost being killed by a stalker, and making contact with a shinigami teaches misa, it is that love is something you kill and die for.

i really don't think that you can separate out "death" from "love" when it comes to misa, not only in terms of general themes, but also when it comes to how she personally views the world. i mean, just look at rem and gelus— death literally loves her, and in the process of loving her, allows her to cheat her way back to life. ryuk calls light a better shinigami than the actual shinigami, but honestly, if anyone fulfills that role, it's misa— she's the one whose life gets cut down until others stock it back up, who has so little regard for life (both in terms of others' and her own), who gambles her time again and again and does whatever she wishes, when she wishes, how she wishes.

it's that second point in particular that really gets to me here. throughout the story, misa shows herself to be equally detached from both the world and herself— she kills without care, gives up half her lifespan without a speck of a second thought, throws herself into dangerous situations and pushes for what she wants even when she knows it's stupid and probably going to get her caught. i'm slightly tempted to say that death's love for misa is the only mutual love she ever has, but that has some implications that i don't think quite fit. misa doesn't get a kick out of killing, she is not (overtly, or very explicitly) suicidal in the sense that she constantly expresses a yearning to kill or be killed. it's more of a toned down attachment than that, which... kinda gets into my next point, on misa's relationships. namely, with two very important people: rem and light.

in terms of rem... i struggle to analyze this relationship sometimes in the context of canon because at times it just feels like there is so little to work with. but perhaps that also fits, in a way...?

one thing that i think the musical really got right about rem is the fact that she has some of the most genuine feelings of love in the entire series, just in general but also specifically in terms of how other characters treat/approach misa. again, misa is a person whose job revolves around people loving or being attracted to her. i have a very hard time believing that the person who tried to kill her was her first or her last stalker, but even without getting to that level of intensity, much of the love surrounding misa is superficial, distant. she is beloved for the image she fits and the role that she plays, but very few people (if anyone) are even capable of getting close enough to recognize the self she hides under that mask (assuming, of course, that she ever lets that core part of her out).

rem is perhaps one of those few people, seemingly having watched misa for years alongside gelus before breaking that parasocial divide and meeting her idol in person. yet, it's also that very period of watching that puts a strain on their relationship, in my mind...

to put it bluntly: apologies to any and all remisa shippers, but i simply Do Not see there being much canon evidence that rem's love for misa is in any way mutual. not only do i struggle to think of any notable scenes where misa displays even an inch of affection or care towards rem, but misa is also kind of horrifically apathetic to rem's death, iirc. i mean, in a way, she's basically the cause of it— in failing to remember L's name upon getting her memories back, she pushes the first domino in the line leading up to watari, L, and rem's deaths.

misa basically treats rem like just another stalker, accepting her love so long as it is somewhat distant or gets her what she wants.

but, like. as shitty as that is to think about, it does kinda fit that misa would treat genuine love this way. at no point does she push back on or try to change rem's mind about this, or even really say fucking anything in response to rem's overt romantic/threatening overtures about how she'll kill anyone who tries to hurt her. i'm kinda inclined to view this as misa's attempt at kindness, accepting the love of her fans for what it is but never pushing it in either direction. she neither demands rem's love, nor attempts to dissuade it— it is what it is, and what happens, happens. and if it results in rem's death, or results in her own... at least it all happened out of love.

now, in terms of light... i was gonna make this its own post but it's on topic, so i might as well just add it here.

it is simultaneously so, so sad and yet also so, so utterly fucking funny that misa is perfectly designed to be everything that light absolutely hates. like, to just list it out cuz i literally have too many points to simplify this down into proper paragraphs rn, misa is:

uncontrollable. supposedly, misa is a perfect little devoted disciple of KIRA, willing to do anything and anything for him as thanks for getting justice for her parents' killer. but like... we all know how this actually works out. misa does whatever the fuck she wants, usually with the thin justification that it'll help KIRA in some way, and light is left behind to deal with the clean up.

stupid. no, not really— but she at the very least presents herself as such, as a ditzy, silly little girl, willing to do anything for love even if it hurts her. really, all this proves is that she wears a mask, just the same as light, though in the process she manages to also reflects to his own sins back at him. misa plays stupid so that she can justify doing stupid things without having to feel bad about it (or get emotionally attached at all?)— light plays god, a being above human morals, so he can do horrifically immoral things without having to feel bad about it. equal and opposite, in the worst possible way.

powerful. and pushy. the only person more stubborn than light yagami is misa amane, etc. etc. just like KIRA, she is a key pawn that light must rely on logistically, but is disgusted with all the same. misa is not a god, not in the way that KIRA is— she's just another filthy criminal, uncaring about the horrible acts she has committed. but she fits herself into his plans in just the right way that he can't quite come out and condemn her directly, and therefore is stuck quietly stewing in his dislike of her instead.

a liability. related to this is the fact that she is essentially unkillable, at least as long as rem is alive. many of the points behind her being uncontrollable apply to this one as well.

feminine. in a way that light dislikes, but also cannot ignore. she's cute and hot in a way that light is supposed to like, if he is to fit in w/ his Just A Typical, Good, Respectable Boy routine, but also drives him up the wall— pitting his desire to be "good" against his desire to be a "boy," essentially. (this point in particular is taken from THIS POST, big thanks to shydroid3000 for the beautiful yotsuba light analysis!!!)

possessive. controlling, in a way, which is again ironically exactly like light himself. light Hates being controlled because it means there may be factors outside of what he has power over, a trait which becomes increasingly relevant in the latter half of the story.

untouchable. even after rem's death, light can never quite get into the right position to kill her. she's almost too effective, causing light problems (e.g. yotsuba) and fucking things up, but never in such a way that he can easily place the blame on her shoulders alone. she is useful, a necessary evil, outliving multiple gods.

and, above all else, ultimately...

(sidenote2: it's kinda interesting to compare misa to L in this regard, actually, especially in terms of why light gets so attached to L but hates misa so viciously, despite L also being quite a bit like light? i guess you could say that misa reflects back the parts of light that he doesn't like as much, or even more specifically that she reflects KIRA back at him, where L matches/opposes light in terms of what he sees to be his better traits— his intelligence, his social power, etc. something to consider.)

to follow up on the sentiments of this post: misa does not love light. she relies on him to fill the hole in her life, in her, as a quick fix to avoid having to engage with the deep-seated grief that haunts her, an answer to the horrifying question of why she is even still here, alive, so long after her appointed bell has already stopped ringing.

to tie this all together, then... i suppose it's fitting that both love and sexuality are are so essentially Empty when it comes to misa amane. ultimately, she is a character defined by a misery she never allows herself to show to the world, a girl stubbornly sticking to the first reason she managed to find for living. again, just like light, she is a character that never grants herself the ability to truly grow up, stuck in the same childish, immature cycles of thinking and methods of presentation she came up with when her life first failed to end. a tragedy in her own right, unable to even remember the face of the one being that genuinely loved her at the moment of her own true death.

born on christmas, dead on valentines. how fitting.

[egophiliac]

I love your take on Crowley!

I know that the early, non-Diasomnia stories aren't really your thing, but are you reading the novels at all?

I have been following some of the fan translations and the second book seems intense! Would love to hear what you think about them.

thank you! 💚💚💚 I'm not really sure why you think I don't like the earlier arcs though, I love pretty much all the characters and their storis! (I think 5 and 1 are my favorite of the past episodes, though 6 infected me with the Shroud brainrot something fierce.) I just...ESPECIALLY love diasomnia. :') but there is room in my heart for all of these dweebs! like, who among us is not just as ride-or-die for Adeuce as they are for us.

that said, I don't really follow the other adaptations like the manga (aside from a dip-in just to see the new Yuus) or the novels, though I keep meaning to check them out! I do like seeing the differences between the different forms of media, and how certain things get adapted one way or another! but alas, time/a lack of accessibility stands in our way more often than not. :( someday...someday I will have time to consume all of the media...

[northflowerowo]

isa lain!!

[orions-aether]

just me whenever I eat a new food or something with even a little bit of flavour / variation in texture or also sometimes just when my brain decides that the same plain food I've been eating without issue daily for six months is the most overstimulating and painful thing to ever exist in the history of the universe

I have never felt more seen than I did in "sad, sad fish, sad fish"

[theoryofwhatnow]

nigel will go three entire months without so much as even smirking or letting happiness touch his eyes just to see a dead body or to get invited to go grave “exploring” with alex and will grin from ear to ear the entire walk there.

[saturnsickle]

Dinah 🎤

(Lineart under the cut!)